text:
A joint SZ-X-ray-optical analysis of the dynamical state of 288 massive galaxy clusters
A. Zenteno, D. Herńandez-Lang, M. Klein, C. Vergara Cervantes, D. L. Hollowood, S. Bhargava, A. Palmese, V. Strazzullo, A. K. Romer, J. J. Mohr, T. Jeltema, A. Saro, C. Lidman, D. Gruen, V. Ojeda, A. Katzenberger, M. Aguena, S. Allam, S. Avila, M. Bayliss
E. Bertin, D. Brooks, E. Buckley-Geer, D. L. Burke, R. Capasso, A. Carnero Rosell, M. Carrasco Kind, J. Carretero, F. J. Castander, M. Costanzi, L. N. da Costa, J. De Vicente, S. Desai, H. T. Diehl, P. Doel, T. F. Eifler, A. E. Evrard, B. Flaugher, B. Floyd, P. Fosalba, J. Frieman, J. García-Bellido, D. W. Gerdes, J. R. Gonzalez, R. A. Gruendl, J. Gschwend, G. Gutierrez, W. G. Hartley, S. R. Hinton, K. Honscheid, D. J. James, K. Kuehn, O. Lahav, M. Lima, M. McDonald, M. A.G. Maia, M. March, P. Melchior, F. Menanteau, R. Miquel, R. L.C. Ogando, F. Paz-Chinchón, A. A. Plazas, A. Roodman, E. S. Rykoff, E. Sanchez, V. Scarpine, M. Schubnell, S. Serrano, I. Sevilla-Noarbe, M. Smith, M. Soares-Santos, E. Suchyta, M. E.C. Swanson, G. Tarle, D. Thomas, T. N. Varga, A. R. Walker, R. D. Wilkinson
We use imaging from the first three years of the Dark Energy Survey to characterize the dynamical state of 288 galaxy clusters at 0.1 ≲ z ≲ 0.9 detected in the South Pole Telescope (SPT) Sunyaev-Zeldovich (SZ) effect survey (SPT-SZ). We examine spatial offsets between the position of the brightest cluster galaxy (BCG) and the centre of the gas distribution as traced by the SPT-SZ centroid and by the X-ray centroid/peak position from Chandra and XMM data. We show that the radial distribution of offsets provides no evidence that SPT SZ-selected cluster samples include a higher fraction of mergers than X-ray-selected cluster samples. We use the offsets to classify the dynamical state of the clusters, selecting the 43 most disturbed clusters, with half of those at z ≳ 0.5, a region seldom explored previously. We find that Schechter function fits to the galaxy population in disturbed clusters and relaxed clusters differ atz >0.55 but not at lower redshifts. Disturbed clusters atz >0.55 have steeper faint-end slopes and brighter characteristic magnitudes. Within the same redshift range, we find that the BCGs in relaxed clusters tend to be brighter than the BCGs in disturbed samples, while in agreement in the lower redshift bin. Possible explanations includes a higher merger rate, and a more efficient dynamical friction at high redshift. The red-sequence population is less affected by the cluster dynamical state than the general galaxy population.
https://doi.org/10.1093/MNRAS/STAA1157
Galaxies: Clusters: General
Galaxies: Evolution
Galaxies: Luminosity function, mass function
10.1093/MNRAS/STAA1157
Dive into the research topics of 'A joint SZ-X-ray-optical analysis of the dynamical state of 288 massive galaxy clusters'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.
merger Earth & Environmental Sciences 100%
x rays Physics & Astronomy 35%
friction Earth & Environmental Sciences 31%
distribution Earth & Environmental Sciences 28%
poles Physics & Astronomy 25%
analysis Earth & Environmental Sciences 21%
Zenteno, A., Herńandez-Lang, D., Klein, M., Vergara Cervantes, C., Hollowood, D. L., Bhargava, S., Palmese, A., Strazzullo, V., Romer, A. K., Mohr, J. J., Jeltema, T., Saro, A., Lidman, C., Gruen, D., Ojeda, V., Katzenberger, A., Aguena, M., Allam, S., Avila, S., ... Wilkinson, R. D. (2020). A joint SZ-X-ray-optical analysis of the dynamical state of 288 massive galaxy clusters. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 495(1), 705-725. https://doi.org/10.1093/MNRAS/STAA1157
Zenteno, A. ; Herńandez-Lang, D. ; Klein, M. ; Vergara Cervantes, C. ; Hollowood, D. L. ; Bhargava, S. ; Palmese, A. ; Strazzullo, V. ; Romer, A. K. ; Mohr, J. J. ; Jeltema, T. ; Saro, A. ; Lidman, C. ; Gruen, D. ; Ojeda, V. ; Katzenberger, A. ; Aguena, M. ; Allam, S. ; Avila, S. ; Bayliss, M. ; Bertin, E. ; Brooks, D. ; Buckley-Geer, E. ; Burke, D. L. ; Capasso, R. ; Carnero Rosell, A. ; Carrasco Kind, M. ; Carretero, J. ; Castander, F. J. ; Costanzi, M. ; da Costa, L. N. ; De Vicente, J. ; Desai, S. ; Diehl, H. T. ; Doel, P. ; Eifler, T. F. ; Evrard, A. E. ; Flaugher, B. ; Floyd, B. ; Fosalba, P. ; Frieman, J. ; García-Bellido, J. ; Gerdes, D. W. ; Gonzalez, J. R. ; Gruendl, R. A. ; Gschwend, J. ; Gutierrez, G. ; Hartley, W. G. ; Hinton, S. R. ; Honscheid, K. ; James, D. J. ; Kuehn, K. ; Lahav, O. ; Lima, M. ; McDonald, M. ; Maia, M. A.G. ; March, M. ; Melchior, P. ; Menanteau, F. ; Miquel, R. ; Ogando, R. L.C. ; Paz-Chinchón, F. ; Plazas, A. A. ; Roodman, A. ; Rykoff, E. S. ; Sanchez, E. ; Scarpine, V. ; Schubnell, M. ; Serrano, S. ; Sevilla-Noarbe, I. ; Smith, M. ; Soares-Santos, M. ; Suchyta, E. ; Swanson, M. E.C. ; Tarle, G. ; Thomas, D. ; Varga, T. N. ; Walker, A. R. ; Wilkinson, R. D. / A joint SZ-X-ray-optical analysis of the dynamical state of 288 massive galaxy clusters. In: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 2020 ; Vol. 495, No. 1. pp. 705-725.
@article{09b3fe8376e14bdf8e08677b06b6a0a6,
title = "A joint SZ-X-ray-optical analysis of the dynamical state of 288 massive galaxy clusters",
abstract = "We use imaging from the first three years of the Dark Energy Survey to characterize the dynamical state of 288 galaxy clusters at 0.1 ≲ z ≲ 0.9 detected in the South Pole Telescope (SPT) Sunyaev-Zeldovich (SZ) effect survey (SPT-SZ). We examine spatial offsets between the position of the brightest cluster galaxy (BCG) and the centre of the gas distribution as traced by the SPT-SZ centroid and by the X-ray centroid/peak position from Chandra and XMM data. We show that the radial distribution of offsets provides no evidence that SPT SZ-selected cluster samples include a higher fraction of mergers than X-ray-selected cluster samples. We use the offsets to classify the dynamical state of the clusters, selecting the 43 most disturbed clusters, with half of those at z ≳ 0.5, a region seldom explored previously. We find that Schechter function fits to the galaxy population in disturbed clusters and relaxed clusters differ atz >0.55 but not at lower redshifts. Disturbed clusters atz >0.55 have steeper faint-end slopes and brighter characteristic magnitudes. Within the same redshift range, we find that the BCGs in relaxed clusters tend to be brighter than the BCGs in disturbed samples, while in agreement in the lower redshift bin. Possible explanations includes a higher merger rate, and a more efficient dynamical friction at high redshift. The red-sequence population is less affected by the cluster dynamical state than the general galaxy population. ",
keywords = "Galaxies: Clusters: General, Galaxies: Evolution, Galaxies: Luminosity function, mass function",
author = "A. Zenteno and D. Her{\'n}andez-Lang and M. Klein and {Vergara Cervantes}, C. and Hollowood, {D. L.} and S. Bhargava and A. Palmese and V. Strazzullo and Romer, {A. K.} and Mohr, {J. J.} and T. Jeltema and A. Saro and C. Lidman and D. Gruen and V. Ojeda and A. Katzenberger and M. Aguena and S. Allam and S. Avila and M. Bayliss and E. Bertin and D. Brooks and E. Buckley-Geer and Burke, {D. L.} and R. Capasso and {Carnero Rosell}, A. and {Carrasco Kind}, M. and J. Carretero and Castander, {F. J.} and M. Costanzi and {da Costa}, {L. N.} and {De Vicente}, J. and S. Desai and Diehl, {H. T.} and P. Doel and Eifler, {T. F.} and Evrard, {A. E.} and B. Flaugher and B. Floyd and P. Fosalba and J. Frieman and J. Garc{\'i}a-Bellido and Gerdes, {D. W.} and Gonzalez, {J. R.} and Gruendl, {R. A.} and J. Gschwend and G. Gutierrez and Hartley, {W. G.} and Hinton, {S. R.} and K. Honscheid and James, {D. J.} and K. Kuehn and O. Lahav and M. Lima and M. McDonald and Maia, {M. A.G.} and M. March and P. Melchior and F. Menanteau and R. Miquel and Ogando, {R. L.C.} and F. Paz-Chinch{\'o}n and Plazas, {A. A.} and A. Roodman and Rykoff, {E. S.} and E. Sanchez and V. Scarpine and M. Schubnell and S. Serrano and I. Sevilla-Noarbe and M. Smith and M. Soares-Santos and E. Suchyta and Swanson, {M. E.C.} and G. Tarle and D. Thomas and Varga, {T. N.} and Walker, {A. R.} and Wilkinson, {R. D.}",
note = "Funding Information: Funding for the DES Projects has been provided by the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. National Science Foundation, the Ministry of Science and Education of Spain, the Science and Technology Facilities Council of the United Kingdom, the Higher Education Funding Council for England, the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the Kavli Institute of Cosmological Physics at the University of Chicago, the Center for Cosmology and Astro-Particle Physics at the Ohio State University, the Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy at Texas A&M University, Fi-nanciadora de Estudos e Projetos, Fundac¸{\~a}o Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo {\`a} Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cient{\'i}fico e Tecnol{\'o}gico and the Minist{\'e}rio da Ci{\^e}ncia, Tecnologia e Inovac¸{\~a}o, the Deutsche Forschungsgemein-schaft and the Collaborating Institutions in the Dark Energy Survey. The Collaborating Institutions are Argonne National Laboratory, the University of California at Santa Cruz, the University of Cambridge, Centro de Investigaciones Energ{\'e}ticas, Medioambien-tales y Tecnol{\'o}gicas-Madrid, the University of Chicago, University College London, the DES-Brazil Consortium, the University of Edinburgh, the Eidgen{\"o}ssische Technische Hochschule (ETH) Z{\"u}rich, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the Institut de Ci{\'e}ncies de l{\textquoteright}Espai (IEEC/CSIC), the Institut de F{\'i}sica d{\textquoteright}Altes Energies, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the Ludwig-Maximilians Universit{\"a}t M{\"u}nchen and the associated Excellence Cluster Universe, the University of Michigan, the National Optical Astronomy Observatory, the University of Nottingham, The Ohio State University, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Portsmouth, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Stanford University, the University of Sussex, Texas A&M University, and the OzDES Membership Consortium. This study is based in part on observations at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, National Optical Astronomy Observatory, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) under a cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation. The DES data management system is supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Numbers AST-1138766 and AST-1536171. The DES participants from Spanish institutions are partially supported by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) under grants AYA2015-71825, ESP2015-66861, FPA2015-68048, SEV-2016-0588, SEV-2016-0597, and MDM-2015-0509, some of which include ERDF funds from the European Union. IFAE is partially funded by the CERCA program of the Generalitat de Catalunya. Research leading to these results has received funding from the ERC under the European Union{\textquoteright}s Seventh Framework Program (FP7/2007-2013) including ERC grant agreements 240672, 291329, and 306478. We acknowledge support from the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for All-sky Astrophysics (CAASTRO), through project number CE110001020. This manuscript has been authored by Fermi Research Alliance, LLC under Contract No. DE-AC02-07CH11359 with the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of High Energy Physics. The United States Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the United States Government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, world-wide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for United States Government purposes. Funding Information: TJ is pleased to acknowledge funding support from Department of Energy DE-SC0010107. AS is supported by the European Research Council (ERC)-StG {\textquoteleft}ClustersXCosmo{\textquoteright} grant agreement 716762, and by the Framework per l{\textquoteright}Attrazione e il Rafforzamento delle Eccellenze per la ricerca in Italia - Ministero dell{\textquoteright}Istruzione, dell{\textquoteright}Universit{\`a} e della Ricerca (FARE-MIUR) grant {\textquoteleft}ClustersXEu-clid{\textquoteright} R165SBKTMA. AZ is grateful of BB help and support. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2020 The Author(s).",
doi = "10.1093/MNRAS/STAA1157",
journal = "Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society",
Zenteno, A, Herńandez-Lang, D, Klein, M, Vergara Cervantes, C, Hollowood, DL, Bhargava, S, Palmese, A, Strazzullo, V, Romer, AK, Mohr, JJ, Jeltema, T, Saro, A, Lidman, C, Gruen, D, Ojeda, V, Katzenberger, A, Aguena, M, Allam, S, Avila, S, Bayliss, M, Bertin, E, Brooks, D, Buckley-Geer, E, Burke, DL, Capasso, R, Carnero Rosell, A, Carrasco Kind, M, Carretero, J, Castander, FJ, Costanzi, M, da Costa, LN, De Vicente, J, Desai, S, Diehl, HT, Doel, P, Eifler, TF, Evrard, AE, Flaugher, B, Floyd, B, Fosalba, P, Frieman, J, García-Bellido, J, Gerdes, DW, Gonzalez, JR, Gruendl, RA, Gschwend, J, Gutierrez, G, Hartley, WG, Hinton, SR, Honscheid, K, James, DJ, Kuehn, K, Lahav, O, Lima, M, McDonald, M, Maia, MAG, March, M, Melchior, P, Menanteau, F, Miquel, R, Ogando, RLC, Paz-Chinchón, F, Plazas, AA, Roodman, A, Rykoff, ES, Sanchez, E, Scarpine, V, Schubnell, M, Serrano, S, Sevilla-Noarbe, I, Smith, M, Soares-Santos, M, Suchyta, E, Swanson, MEC, Tarle, G, Thomas, D, Varga, TN, Walker, AR & Wilkinson, RD 2020, 'A joint SZ-X-ray-optical analysis of the dynamical state of 288 massive galaxy clusters', Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, vol. 495, no. 1, pp. 705-725. https://doi.org/10.1093/MNRAS/STAA1157
A joint SZ-X-ray-optical analysis of the dynamical state of 288 massive galaxy clusters. / Zenteno, A.; Herńandez-Lang, D.; Klein, M.; Vergara Cervantes, C.; Hollowood, D. L.; Bhargava, S.; Palmese, A.; Strazzullo, V.; Romer, A. K.; Mohr, J. J.; Jeltema, T.; Saro, A.; Lidman, C.; Gruen, D.; Ojeda, V.; Katzenberger, A.; Aguena, M.; Allam, S.; Avila, S.; Bayliss, M.; Bertin, E.; Brooks, D.; Buckley-Geer, E.; Burke, D. L.; Capasso, R.; Carnero Rosell, A.; Carrasco Kind, M.; Carretero, J.; Castander, F. J.; Costanzi, M.; da Costa, L. N.; De Vicente, J.; Desai, S.; Diehl, H. T.; Doel, P.; Eifler, T. F.; Evrard, A. E.; Flaugher, B.; Floyd, B.; Fosalba, P.; Frieman, J.; García-Bellido, J.; Gerdes, D. W.; Gonzalez, J. R.; Gruendl, R. A.; Gschwend, J.; Gutierrez, G.; Hartley, W. G.; Hinton, S. R.; Honscheid, K.; James, D. J.; Kuehn, K.; Lahav, O.; Lima, M.; McDonald, M.; Maia, M. A.G.; March, M.; Melchior, P.; Menanteau, F.; Miquel, R.; Ogando, R. L.C.; Paz-Chinchón, F.; Plazas, A. A.; Roodman, A.; Rykoff, E. S.; Sanchez, E.; Scarpine, V.; Schubnell, M.; Serrano, S.; Sevilla-Noarbe, I.; Smith, M.; Soares-Santos, M.; Suchyta, E.; Swanson, M. E.C.; Tarle, G.; Thomas, D.; Varga, T. N.; Walker, A. R.; Wilkinson, R. D.
In: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 495, No. 1, 2020, p. 705-725.
T1 - A joint SZ-X-ray-optical analysis of the dynamical state of 288 massive galaxy clusters
AU - Zenteno, A.
AU - Herńandez-Lang, D.
AU - Klein, M.
AU - Vergara Cervantes, C.
AU - Hollowood, D. L.
AU - Bhargava, S.
AU - Palmese, A.
AU - Strazzullo, V.
AU - Romer, A. K.
AU - Mohr, J. J.
AU - Jeltema, T.
AU - Saro, A.
AU - Lidman, C.
AU - Gruen, D.
AU - Ojeda, V.
AU - Katzenberger, A.
AU - Aguena, M.
AU - Allam, S.
AU - Avila, S.
AU - Bayliss, M.
AU - Bertin, E.
AU - Brooks, D.
AU - Buckley-Geer, E.
AU - Burke, D. L.
AU - Capasso, R.
AU - Carnero Rosell, A.
AU - Carrasco Kind, M.
AU - Carretero, J.
AU - Castander, F. J.
AU - Costanzi, M.
AU - da Costa, L. N.
AU - De Vicente, J.
AU - Desai, S.
AU - Diehl, H. T.
AU - Doel, P.
AU - Eifler, T. F.
AU - Evrard, A. E.
AU - Flaugher, B.
AU - Floyd, B.
AU - Fosalba, P.
AU - Frieman, J.
AU - García-Bellido, J.
AU - Gerdes, D. W.
AU - Gonzalez, J. R.
AU - Gruendl, R. A.
AU - Gschwend, J.
AU - Gutierrez, G.
AU - Hartley, W. G.
AU - Hinton, S. R.
AU - Honscheid, K.
AU - James, D. J.
AU - Kuehn, K.
AU - Lahav, O.
AU - Lima, M.
AU - McDonald, M.
AU - Maia, M. A.G.
AU - March, M.
AU - Melchior, P.
AU - Menanteau, F.
AU - Miquel, R.
AU - Ogando, R. L.C.
AU - Paz-Chinchón, F.
AU - Plazas, A. A.
AU - Roodman, A.
AU - Rykoff, E. S.
AU - Sanchez, E.
AU - Scarpine, V.
AU - Schubnell, M.
AU - Serrano, S.
AU - Sevilla-Noarbe, I.
AU - Smith, M.
AU - Soares-Santos, M.
AU - Suchyta, E.
AU - Swanson, M. E.C.
AU - Tarle, G.
AU - Thomas, D.
AU - Varga, T. N.
AU - Walker, A. R.
AU - Wilkinson, R. D.
N1 - Funding Information: Funding for the DES Projects has been provided by the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. National Science Foundation, the Ministry of Science and Education of Spain, the Science and Technology Facilities Council of the United Kingdom, the Higher Education Funding Council for England, the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the Kavli Institute of Cosmological Physics at the University of Chicago, the Center for Cosmology and Astro-Particle Physics at the Ohio State University, the Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy at Texas A&M University, Fi-nanciadora de Estudos e Projetos, Fundac¸ão Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico and the Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovac¸ão, the Deutsche Forschungsgemein-schaft and the Collaborating Institutions in the Dark Energy Survey. The Collaborating Institutions are Argonne National Laboratory, the University of California at Santa Cruz, the University of Cambridge, Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas, Medioambien-tales y Tecnológicas-Madrid, the University of Chicago, University College London, the DES-Brazil Consortium, the University of Edinburgh, the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (ETH) Zürich, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the Institut de Ciéncies de l'Espai (IEEC/CSIC), the Institut de Física d'Altes Energies, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the Ludwig-Maximilians Universität München and the associated Excellence Cluster Universe, the University of Michigan, the National Optical Astronomy Observatory, the University of Nottingham, The Ohio State University, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Portsmouth, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Stanford University, the University of Sussex, Texas A&M University, and the OzDES Membership Consortium. This study is based in part on observations at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, National Optical Astronomy Observatory, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) under a cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation. The DES data management system is supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Numbers AST-1138766 and AST-1536171. The DES participants from Spanish institutions are partially supported by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) under grants AYA2015-71825, ESP2015-66861, FPA2015-68048, SEV-2016-0588, SEV-2016-0597, and MDM-2015-0509, some of which include ERDF funds from the European Union. IFAE is partially funded by the CERCA program of the Generalitat de Catalunya. Research leading to these results has received funding from the ERC under the European Union's Seventh Framework Program (FP7/2007-2013) including ERC grant agreements 240672, 291329, and 306478. We acknowledge support from the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for All-sky Astrophysics (CAASTRO), through project number CE110001020. This manuscript has been authored by Fermi Research Alliance, LLC under Contract No. DE-AC02-07CH11359 with the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of High Energy Physics. The United States Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the United States Government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, world-wide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for United States Government purposes. Funding Information: TJ is pleased to acknowledge funding support from Department of Energy DE-SC0010107. AS is supported by the European Research Council (ERC)-StG 'ClustersXCosmo' grant agreement 716762, and by the Framework per l'Attrazione e il Rafforzamento delle Eccellenze per la ricerca in Italia - Ministero dell'Istruzione, dell'Università e della Ricerca (FARE-MIUR) grant 'ClustersXEu-clid' R165SBKTMA. AZ is grateful of BB help and support. Publisher Copyright: © 2020 The Author(s).
N2 - We use imaging from the first three years of the Dark Energy Survey to characterize the dynamical state of 288 galaxy clusters at 0.1 ≲ z ≲ 0.9 detected in the South Pole Telescope (SPT) Sunyaev-Zeldovich (SZ) effect survey (SPT-SZ). We examine spatial offsets between the position of the brightest cluster galaxy (BCG) and the centre of the gas distribution as traced by the SPT-SZ centroid and by the X-ray centroid/peak position from Chandra and XMM data. We show that the radial distribution of offsets provides no evidence that SPT SZ-selected cluster samples include a higher fraction of mergers than X-ray-selected cluster samples. We use the offsets to classify the dynamical state of the clusters, selecting the 43 most disturbed clusters, with half of those at z ≳ 0.5, a region seldom explored previously. We find that Schechter function fits to the galaxy population in disturbed clusters and relaxed clusters differ atz >0.55 but not at lower redshifts. Disturbed clusters atz >0.55 have steeper faint-end slopes and brighter characteristic magnitudes. Within the same redshift range, we find that the BCGs in relaxed clusters tend to be brighter than the BCGs in disturbed samples, while in agreement in the lower redshift bin. Possible explanations includes a higher merger rate, and a more efficient dynamical friction at high redshift. The red-sequence population is less affected by the cluster dynamical state than the general galaxy population.
AB - We use imaging from the first three years of the Dark Energy Survey to characterize the dynamical state of 288 galaxy clusters at 0.1 ≲ z ≲ 0.9 detected in the South Pole Telescope (SPT) Sunyaev-Zeldovich (SZ) effect survey (SPT-SZ). We examine spatial offsets between the position of the brightest cluster galaxy (BCG) and the centre of the gas distribution as traced by the SPT-SZ centroid and by the X-ray centroid/peak position from Chandra and XMM data. We show that the radial distribution of offsets provides no evidence that SPT SZ-selected cluster samples include a higher fraction of mergers than X-ray-selected cluster samples. We use the offsets to classify the dynamical state of the clusters, selecting the 43 most disturbed clusters, with half of those at z ≳ 0.5, a region seldom explored previously. We find that Schechter function fits to the galaxy population in disturbed clusters and relaxed clusters differ atz >0.55 but not at lower redshifts. Disturbed clusters atz >0.55 have steeper faint-end slopes and brighter characteristic magnitudes. Within the same redshift range, we find that the BCGs in relaxed clusters tend to be brighter than the BCGs in disturbed samples, while in agreement in the lower redshift bin. Possible explanations includes a higher merger rate, and a more efficient dynamical friction at high redshift. The red-sequence population is less affected by the cluster dynamical state than the general galaxy population.
KW - Galaxies: Clusters: General
KW - Galaxies: Evolution
KW - Galaxies: Luminosity function, mass function
U2 - 10.1093/MNRAS/STAA1157
DO - 10.1093/MNRAS/STAA1157
JO - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
JF - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Zenteno A, Herńandez-Lang D, Klein M, Vergara Cervantes C, Hollowood DL, Bhargava S et al. A joint SZ-X-ray-optical analysis of the dynamical state of 288 massive galaxy clusters. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 2020;495(1):705-725. https://doi.org/10.1093/MNRAS/STAA1157


It is a budget automotive glass preprocessing line for loading, cutting, breakout, seaming, washing, drying, powder applying and unloading. Powdering section is particular design to spray separating powders on windshields. Powder is used to prevent two pieces of windshield from sticking and fusing during bending. It is a complete preprocessing line for highest throughput of automotive glass production at lowest possible capital investment. The inline machines eliminate glass handling such as glass loading and unloading. This increases productivity while also prevents glass from scratching.


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Centennial Renewable Energy to build Idaho pellet plant
By Anna Simet | March 25, 2015
Centennial Renewable Energy of Idaho announced that is building a 160,000-metric-ton wood pellet plant in northern Idaho and recently signed agreements to purchase land for the project.
CRE has named its funding advisor as U.K.-based CHP Ventures, which has completed extensive due-diligence and secured development funds to take the project to financial close, according to a project press release. "We have been working with CRE for many months on detailed project risk mitigation to ensure that when presented for funding this project, as with any other we advise on, is successful," said Roger Willmott, director of CHP Ventures. "We have found that there is no shortage of investment funding only a shortage of well-developed and presented projects"
Dome Technology, which has a portfolio that includes construction of domes at large pellet operations in North America and Europe including Enviva's deep-water port facility in Chesapeake, Virginia, Drax Power Station in North Yorkshire, England, and the Port of Quebec, has been selected as lead design-build contractor.
The pellet produced at the plant will meet the ENPlus A2 standard, according to CRE. The facility will primarily process sustainably sourced sawdust and wood shavings generated as part of the lumber production and mill residues. A large percentage of the production will be exported to Asia for use in power production, with the balance being made available for the home markets, according to CRE's website.
Chris Pope of CHP Ventures said no construction date is set yet, but engineering work is set to begin in the coming week. "We will have more certainty when that is complete…we will be sending pellets to market in 2017."
Honeywell begins using SAF to test APUs, propulsion engines

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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« Rubio announces Dignity of Life Advisory Board | Main | Kirk: $1.7B in taxpayer funds to Iran is "high cost of American hostage ransom" »
Zell-funded PAC transfers $1.8 million to Proft's Liberty Principles PAC
CHICAGO - This week, one-time Chicago Tribune owner and real estate billionaire Sam Zell handed $1.8 million from his Turnaround Illinois PAC to Liberty Principles PAC, adding to the $2.5 million they received last month from U-line founder and owner Dick Uihlein.
That makes nearly $4.3 million available to radio talk show host Dan Proft - the head of Liberty Principles PAC - for use in the upcoming GOP primary.
Sam Zell started the Turnaround Illinois PAC in 2015 with his own $4 million check and another $250,000 from Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner.
That exchange of funds places three of the nation's wealthiest - Uihlein, Zell and Rauner - hand in hand with Proft, whose funding efforts elevated an array of Republican House primary candidate campaigns in 2014, frustrating House Minority Leader Jim Durkin.
In its first month of formation, Turnaround Illinois conducted a $30,000 survey, paid out tens of thousands to consultants and attorneys, and then transferred $1.8 million to a 501 c4 associated with the Turnaround Illinois agenda.
During the third and fourth quarters of 2015, Turnaround Illinois paid out $50,000 each quarter in consulting and legal fees. Other than those expenses, Zell and Rauner's money was untouched in Turnaround Illinois until they handed $1.8 million to Proft's political action committee.
House Republican Leader Jim Durkin's Leadership Committee coffers are embarrassingly low in comparison to Proft's $4.5 Million - at the end of December 2015, it boasted a mere $66,107.40 available for the upcoming election year.
The House Republican Organization shows more - $290,416 - as of the last filing:
Thursday, January 21, 2016 at 04:03 PM | Permalink
Tags: Illinois Review, Liberty Principles PAC


I hate when my Vertical Blinds brake, but with this easy fix I have been doing for years the fix is not only easy it is extremely cheap. The only thing you will need to fix your broken vertical blind is some scotch tape and a paper click. I have also found that this fix is actually stronger than the original vertical blind design, so the chances of it breaking again are less with this quick fix.
I hate Broken Vertical Blind, but here is a simple and cost effective way to fix this problem.
All you will need to fix your vertical blind is Scotch Tape and a Paper clip, Yep thats all.
Step 1. Just tape the Paper Clip to the Vertical Blind like the image above.
Step 2. Clip the Vertical Blind back in to the track.
Step 3: Stand back and enjoy your accomplishment of fixing your Vertical Blind in a few seconds.
If you found this to be helpful please post a response below I have many other quick tips and fix it ideas I have developed over the years, but I didn't realize how good some of them where until my friends started telling me they never would have thought of that, so if I get enough feed back I will start adding quick fix tips on this web site.
A friend of mine told me about Snap Fish in the early part of 2010, and since then I have been using SnapFish for all of my family photo prints, and recently I ordered some 2011 calendars for my family as Christmas gifts, and they loved them. My wife and I have also ordered some coffee mugs with my daughters photos on them, and we love them as well, so I have decided to to write this article about Snap Fish, because I have been really happy with the products I have ordered and the customer service so far has been great. I would highly recommend this company if you are planning to order photos, photo books, mugs, calendars or any item you plan to customize with your own photos. I would love to here about your experience with this company, so if you have ever ordered form Snap Fish please share you thought with us below.
Click the link to the right to get started, and as a gift for signing up you will get 50 free prints. After you place your free order please come back to share your experience and personal review with us.
My wife and I took our dog Georgie to Ooh La La Doggie Spa located at 522 E Arlington Ave. Riverside, California 92504 at the Heritage Shopping Center. I was surprised with the great service they provided; when I took Georgie inside he was very calm and took to the groomer nicely. I was also surprised at how nice the inside of this place looked, it was very clean and organized. I was also surprised at how fast they had finished with Georgie I was expecting it to take a few hours but it only took about an hour, so when they called me I was not ready, because I was still running my errands, so I asked if it would be ok if I picked him up in about an hour, and they where very nice about it and said no problem. When I finally picked Georgie up I was happy with his appearance as they had tied a bandanna around his neck and also gave him a squeaky toy ball which I did not know they did all of that I thought it was just a bath, so if you live in the Riverside California area and would like to get your dog clean as well as good treatment I highly recommend Ooh La La Doggie Spa.
Charter Internet is slow and choppy, how is AT&T internet Service in Riverside California?
I have the so called high speed internet from charter and pay $39.99 every month for 16Mbps, but here's the problem it goes down constantly and is extremely choppy. I like to get work and or home work done at night usually between 12 am and 6 am, but for the second night in a row the internet is not working at all. Thank god I live in Riverside, California and I have access to the ATT Metro Free service from AT&T this is the service I am using to right this post on August 31st 2010 at 2 am. How sad is it that I have to use the AT&T free wireless service when I am paying $39.99 per month for the so called Charter high speed internet. I am seriously considering switching my service to ATT DSL, because this is ridiculous how often the service goes down with Charter, and the worse thing about it is Charter should give an automatic credit for the time down, but they don't they make you call in and request it. I feel that they should also offer a courtesy notice letting their subscriber know if there is going to be scheduled maintenance or planed service outages. I am going to school right now and it is imperative that I have online access when I need it, so if anyone out there is experiencing the same issue with Charter's inconsistent internet connection please post a comment below, also I would love to hear from you if you are subscribed to AT&T Internet DSL service please share your experience I really want to switch, but would like some feedback.
Charter VS AT&T Internet who do you think is better?
Thank you for reading and letting me vent.


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2003 in rugby union by country •
2002–03 in British rugby union •
2002 in Scottish sport •
Seasons in Scottish rugby union •
2003 in Scottish sport
2002–03 in Scottish rugby union
2002–03 in Scottish rugby union - Wikipedia
2003 Six Nations Championship
The 2003 Six Nations Championship was the fourth series of the Six Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the hundred-and-ninth series...
2003 Barbarians end of season tour
2002–03 Celtic League
2002 Fiji rugby union tour of British Isles
2002 Fiji rugby union tour of British Isles - Wikipedia
2003 Women's Six Nations Championship
2003 Women's Six Nations Championship - Wikipedia
2003 Six Nations Championship squads
2003 Scotland rugby union tour of South Africa
2002 South Africa rugby union tour of Europe
2002 South Africa rugby union tour of Europe - Wikipedia
2002 Romania rugby union tour of British Isles
2002 Romania rugby union tour of British Isles - Wikipedia


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kawika Wed, 10/19/2011 - 2:18pm
Norman Mineta: Mistaken Identity
AA77. UA93
Creedon
PEOC
Concerning Norman Mineta's testimony about being with Cheney in the PEOC---
Briefly, the story is that Cheney was getting updates about a flight headed for DC from a "young man" who stated the plane was 50, 30, then 10 miles out.
Most people will assume that Mineta is referring to AA77, not UA93. There is an attempt by the media and others to shift away from AA77 towards UA93. By doing this they are able to push the time ahead and protect Cheney from criticism about a shoot down or a stand down. But this has some seriously fatal flaws.
See this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XY2pMZl7yw
At mark ~:50 he is talking about the young man describing a plane that is 50 miles out.
At mark ~1:00 Mineta is on the phone with Monte Belger who tells him the target is somewhere beyond Great Falls. In other words about 25 miles up river from DC. He says twice they cannot tell the speed.** Then he says they lost the bogey somewhere between Rosslyn and Reagan Airport. Both Great Falls and Rosslyn are North of the Pentagon.
Here is the same thing from Belger:
kawika's blog
bio Tue, 02/08/2011 - 2:34pm
Statements of Monte Belger, Mike Weikert (both FAA) in regard to the Mineta-testimony
weikert
The testimony of Norman Mineta is widely discussed and known at 911blogger. For example "Mineta's Testimony CONFIRMED".
Nevertheless there are important statements made by important FAA-personal, which need to be contributed to the discussion:
Mike Weikert was in charge in the FAA-Headquarter for the "primary net" (hijack-net). In his statement to the 911 commission, he describes, what happened shortly before the Pentagon attack. He says, that the FAA-Headquarter tried to "raise" the White House, Defense Department, and that Belger was monotoring "both nets":
"We were trying to raise them when we were tracking the plane that crashed in the Pentagon. Belger was in the room at the time. He was monitoring both nets." source
Monte Belger Acting (FAA Deputy Administrator) cannot remember speaking with Mineta, but can recall reports of a "high speed VFR", which flow eastward in this time:
bio's blog


It's a showcase show featuring up to four acts each day from around the local and worldwide circuit.
My first gig was in March 2010 in Edinburgh. I'd been at a comedy course for a few weeks beforehand and the organiser managed to get me onto a new material show she was hosting. IT all went pretty well. I made people laugh, as is a comedian's want. The only hitch was my camera didn't record the show, so there is no evidence of it going well.
Drink water and coffee, pee lots, stretch, breathe, hastily run over my notes a million times, panic, silence my self-critic and then just do it.
I'm still yet to have any reviews published by big name reviewers. I've had a few troll reviews from audience members. One in particular criticised me pointing out a man getting up and leaving in the middle of the show.
I try not to get too obsessed with reviews during the show. I'm mainly there to help other people get some stage time and to help better myself as a performer. Though I'd be lying if I got a good/bad review and wasn't elated/disappointed.
Comedy is very subjective, reviewers have different tastes, every Fringe day is different so it's best not to take what they say too much to heart. But, if you're consistently getting bad reviews, it might be time to reconsider your life choices.
No. HE merely made a mockery of the Nazi movement and of the many cute dog videos. He didn't hurt anyone or incite hatred against anyone.
Paedophilia jokes is always a risk never worth taking in comedy.
Not really but I did once have a joke about suicide in the middle of a set that went down like a lead balloon and then I tried bringing the room back with a cheery joke about school tuck shops, but the audience usually never recovered, so that joke was promptly dropped!
My last show of the Fringe 2013 was my best gig to date. I had a full house, the audience were amazing, the other acts on did fantastically and I got one of my most generous donation buckets ever.
Ray Fordyce was talking to Wrigley Worm.
Comedy is very subjective, reviewers have different tastes, every Fringe day is different so it's best not to take what they say too much to heart.


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ABOUT MIDDLEBY
Company Overview What We Do Innovation International
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Acquisitions Earnings Financial News
The Middleby Corporation Reports First Quarter Results
The Middleby Corporation (NASDAQ: MIDD), a leading worldwide manufacturer of equipment for the commercial foodservice, food processing, and residential kitchen industries, today reported net sales and earnings for the first quarter ended March 30, 2019.
Net earnings for the first quarter were $69.0 million or $1.24 diluted earnings per share on net sales of $686.8 million as compared to the prior year first quarter net earnings of $65.4 million or $1.18 diluted earnings per share on net sales of $584.8 million. Net earnings in the current quarter were negatively impacted by the transition costs resulting from the retirement of the former Chairman and CEO. Excluding these items, earnings per share would have been $1.38 for the 2019 first quarter.
2019 First Quarter Financial Highlights
• Net sales increased 17.4% in the first quarter of 2019 over the comparative prior year period. Sales related to recent acquisitions added 17.2% in the first quarter. The impact of foreign exchange rates on foreign sales translated into U.S. Dollars decreased net sales by approximately 2.1% during the first quarter. Excluding the impacts of acquisitions, closure of a non-core business and foreign exchange rates, sales increased 2.9% in the first quarter.
• Net sales at the company's Commercial Foodservice Equipment Group increased 27.1% in the first quarter of 2019 over the comparative prior year period. During fiscal 2018, the company completed the acquisitions of Firex, Josper, Taylor and Crown. During fiscal 2019, the company completed the acquisition of EVO. Excluding the impacts of acquisitions and foreign exchange, sales increased 3.4% in the first quarter.
• Net sales at the company's Residential Kitchen Equipment Group increased 0.4% in the first quarter of 2019 over comparative prior year period. Excluding the impact of foreign exchange rates and closure of a non-core business, sales increased 5.5% during the first quarter, led by continued double digit sales growth at Viking.
• Net sales at the company's Food Processing Equipment Group increased 4.4% in the first quarter of 2019 over the comparative prior year period. During fiscal 2018, the company completed the acquisitions of Hinds-Bock, Ve.Ma.C and M-TEK. Excluding the impacts of acquisitions and foreign exchange rates, net sales decreased 3.2% during the first quarter.
• Gross profit in the first quarter increased to $257.3 million from $211.6 million and the gross margin rate increased from 36.2% to 37.5%. The increase in gross margin rate for the quarter was primarily related to improved profitability at the Residential Kitchen Equipment Group.
• Operating income in the first quarter increased to $101.1 million from $87.0 million in the prior year period. The transition costs resulting from the retirement of the former Chairman and CEO also negatively impacted the quarter by approximately $10.1 million.
• Operating income included $26.2 million of non-cash expenses during the first quarter, comprised of $9.0 million of depreciation expense, $16.1 million of intangible amortization and $1.1 million of share based compensation. Prior year first quarter non-cash expenses amounted to $19.8 million, including $8.2 million of depreciation expenses, $11.5 million of intangible amortization and $0.1 million of share based compensation.
• The provision for income taxes in the first quarter amounted to $20.7 million at a 23.1% effective rate in comparison to $21.3 million at a 24.5% effective rate in the prior year quarter.
• Diluted net earnings per share was $1.24 in the first quarter as compared to $1.18 in the prior year quarter. Net earnings in the current quarter were negatively impacted by the transition costs from the retirement of the former Chairman and CEO. The impact of these costs reduced earnings per share by $0.14 for the first quarter.
• Operating cash flows during the first quarter amounted to $33.9 million in comparison to $44.7 million in the prior year period.
• Net debt, defined as debt less cash, at the end of the 2019 fiscal first quarter amounted to $1,811.1 million as compared to $1,820.4 million at the end of fiscal 2018. During the first quarter, the company invested $12.4 million to fund 2019 acquisition activities.
Timothy FitzGerald, Chief Executive Officer, commented, "At the Commercial Foodservice Equipment Group, we reported growth both domestically and internationally. In the U.S., we continued to benefit from sales momentum with our restaurant chain customers, as they adopt our latest product innovation. International growth reflects improved market conditions in Latin America and Asia, although we continue to face challenging conditions in Europe and U.K. with uncertainty from the impact of Brexit. We continue to work closely with our customers on solutions to address current operator challenges of labor cost and availability, space constraints and rising operating costs, while providing flexibility for menu updates. In particular, we continue to see demand in the areas of beverage, ventless cooking and automated conveyor equipment. Our focus remains on positioning Middleby for long-term growth through strategic investments in technology and our global manufacturing, sales and support capabilities."
"We continue to make progress on the integration of commercial foodservice acquisitions completed over the past several years. At Taylor, EBITDA margins improved to approximately 25% in the quarter and added to our earnings by approximately $0.04 this quarter. Investments to achieve our longer-term profitability goals will be ongoing. Most importantly, these efforts include the development of new product innovations for the market in the frozen beverage and dessert categories, which we anticipate will generate future growth and margin enhancement opportunities."
Mr. FitzGerald added, "At our Residential Kitchen Equipment Group, we continued to see favorable progress and market share gains with our brands domestically. Viking again reported double-digit sales growth in the quarter and there is steady interest and momentum with new, innovative product lines including the Viking Virtuoso line which was introduced in the first quarter. Additionally, we expanded our refrigeration offering and are excited to launch a new generation of under counter refrigeration from U-Line. Investments in the residential business are ongoing with the recent grand opening of our New York City Residential Showroom and third residential showroom planned for Southern California in 2019. Outside of North America, we were pleased to also see modest growth in the AGA Rangemaster business during the quarter, reflecting initial benefits of new product introductions. However, challenging market conditions persist in the U.K. and we anticipate consistent growth will be difficult until the market conditions improve."
Mr. FitzGerald further noted, "At the Food Processing Equipment Group, the absence of large projects due to market dynamics, remains a challenge, particularly in the meat processing business. We continue to introduce innovation to the market and launch new products to address growing market categories and trends such as pet foods, dried meats and jerky, and sous-vide cooking and remain optimistic that positive results are achievable in the coming quarters."
Mr. FitzGerald concluded, "We recently announced the acquisitions of the Standex Cooking Solution Group and PowerHouse Dynamics. Through the Standex acquisition, we are excited to add the highly-respected brands Ultrafryer, BKI, APW and Bakers Pride to the Middleby family as this acquisition further extends our technologies in frying, cooking and warming within our Commercial Foodservice Equipment Group. With the addition of BKI, we are now strategically well-positioned to serve and penetrate the growing retail and convenience store market segment. The acquisition of PowerHouse Dynamics significantly adds to our IoT and Cloud-Based offerings and capabilities. This acquisition, as an addition to our current Middleby Connect technology, expands our solutions platform allowing customers to remotely monitor and operate a broad set of operations for restaurants, allowing our customers to achieve gains in labor efficiency, energy conservation, food cost and enhanced food safety."
A conference call will be held at 10 a.m. Central Time on Wednesday, May 8, 2019 and can be accessed by dialing (888) 3916937 or (315) 625-3077 and providing conference code 6871299#. The conference call is also accessible through the Investor Relations section of the company website at www.middleby.com. A replay of the conference call will be available two hours after the conclusion of the call by dialing (855) 859-2056 and entering conference code 6871299#.
Statements in this press release or otherwise attributable to the company regarding the company's business which are not historical facts are forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The company cautions investors that such statements are estimates of future performance and are highly dependent upon a variety of important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from such statements. Such factors include variability in financing costs; quarterly variations in operating results; dependence on key customers; international exposure; foreign exchange and political risks affecting international sales; changing market conditions; the impact of competitive products and pricing; the timely development and market acceptance of the company's products; the availability and cost of raw materials; and other risks detailed herein and from time-to-time in the company's SEC filings. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date hereof, and the Company does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or review any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as required by law.
The Middleby Corporation is a global leader in the foodservice equipment industry. The company develops, manufactures, markets and services a broad line of equipment used in the commercial foodservice, food processing, and residential kitchen equipment industries. The company's leading equipment brands serving the commercial foodservice industry include Anets®, APW Wyott®, Bakers Pride®, Bear Varimixer®, Beech®, BKI®, Blodgett®, Blodgett Combi®, Blodgett Range®, Bloomfield®, Britannia®, Carter-Hoffmann®, Celfrost®, Concordia®, CookTek®, Crown Food Equipment®, CTX®, Desmon®, Doyon®, Eswood®, EVO®, frifri®, Firex®, Follett®, Giga®, Globe®, Goldstein®, Holman®, Houno®, IMC®, Induc®, Jade®, JoeTap®, Josper®, L2F®, Lang®, Lincat®, MagiKitch'n®, Market Forge®, Marsal®, Middleby Marshall®, MPC®, Nieco®, Nu-Vu®, PerfectFry®, Pitco Frialator®, QualServ®, SiteSage®, Southbend®, Star®, Sveba Dahlen®, Taylor®, Toastmaster®, TurboChef®, Ultrafryer®, Wells® and Wunder-Bar®. The company's leading equipment brands serving the food processing industry include Alkar®, Armor Inox®, Auto-Bake®, Baker Thermal Solutions®, Burford®, Cozzini®, CVP Systems®, Danfotech®, Drake®, Emico®, Glimek®, Hinds-Bock®, Maurer-Atmos®, MP Equipment®, MTEK®, RapidPak®, Scanico®, Spooner Vicars®, Stewart Systems®, Thurne® and Ve.Ma.C.®. The company's leading equipment brands serving the residential kitchen industry include AGA® AGA Cookshop®, Fired Earth®, EVO®, Heartland®, La Cornue®, Leisure Sinks®, Lynx®, Marvel®, Mercury®, Rangemaster®, Rayburn®, Redfyre®, Sedona®, Stanley®, TurboChef®, U-Line® and Viking®.
For more information about The Middleby Corporation and the company brands, please visit www.middleby.com.
Contact: Darcy Bretz, Investor and Public Relations, (847) 429-7756 Bryan Mittelman, Chief Financial Officer, (847) 429-7715
Foodservice and Beverage
Carter-Hoffmann
Celfrost
Deutsche Beverage Technology
Eswood
EVO America
Hounö
Induc
JoeTap
Lab2Fab
Marvel Scientific
Middleby Marshall
Powerhouse Dynamics
QualServ
Ss Brewtech Pro
Sveba Dahlen
U-Line Commercial
Wild Goose Filling
Food Processing & Bakery
Armor Inox
Auto-Bake
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Cozzini
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Glimek
Hinds-Bock
Maurer-Atmos
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Pacproinc
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Autopsy: George Floyd Had Coronavirus, Potentially Deadly Levels Of Fentanyl in His System
George Floyd had coronavirus in addition to potentially deadly levels of the synthetic opioid fentanyl in system and multiple pre-existing heart conditions at the time of his death, the Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office full autopsy report reveals.
The report was released Wednesday with the permission of his family.
"A postmortem nasal swab was taken, which confirmed that Floyd was positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19," KSTP reported. "It is noted that Floyd was known to be positive for COVID-19 on April 3. The postmortem positivity likely reflects asymptomatic but persistent PCR positivity from previous infection, the report said."
Floyd had fentanyl his blood at the level of 11 ng/mL which is easily enough to kill someone. A study from 2018 found overdose deaths can occur with as little at 0.2 ng/mL in the blood with median peripheral blood concentrations among people who died being between 10�20 ng/mL.
Fentanyl is the deadliest drug in America and killed over 32,000 Americans in 2018.
Photo illustration of 2 milligrams of fentanyl, which is a deadly dose for most people. [source: DEA]
Floyd also had methamphetamine in his system, THC from marijuana, cotinine from cigarettes and caffeine.
Floyd, 46, had a host of heart conditions, including "severe" and multifocal arteriosclerotic heart disease, hypertensive heart disease, an enlarged heart and clinical history of hypertension.
The autopsy determined Floyd died of "cardiopulmonary arrest [a heart attack] complicating law enforcement subdual, restraint and neck compression."
Though Floyd's family described him as a "gentle giant," he was charged with armed robbery in 2007 in Houston for breaking into a woman's home and holding a gun to her stomach.
BREAKING: In 2007, George Floyd was charged w armed robbery in a Houston home invasion, according to court records. Floyd, who stands 6-6, �forced his way inside the residence, placed a pistol against the woman's abdomen & forced her into the living room.�https://t.co/lePkj6NkRL
� Paul Sperry (@paulsperry_) May 30, 2020
Additionally, though so-called "fact-checking" outlets like Snopes are reporting that he was a "devout Christian" when he used to live in Houston, internet sleuths discovered that he worked as a porn star.
You can read the full autopsy report here.
Follow InformationLiberation on Twitter, Facebook, Gab and Minds.


This offer can be availed only by new broadband, talk and rental customers of Sky. Once they complete a period of 12 months of using this Sky broadband offer, they will have to pay the standard price as applicable. It is currently £10pm with Sky Talk. Sky Fibre availability to a specific customer is subject to survey. This subscription plan is applicable for UK based citizens only.
Normal Fibre activation price is £50. But for new customers availing this type of Sky internet offers, £35 Fibre activation fee is applicable. External factors such as home wiring and internet congestion may have a negative impact on speed occasionally. The downloading speed of Sky Fibre is up to 38 Mbps at the maximum at present. The presence of a compatible line is essential for setup otherwise Sky will charge £20 for setting-up the connection.
The minimum time period for subscription is 12 months. Separate contracts will apply for Sky Fiber and Sky Talk. Customers will also need to acquire the consent of their landlord in case they reside in rented apartments. Prices will need to be paid for DD payments only. Continuous debit/credit mandate will cost £30 per month. Subscribers who join Sky TV with Sky Q will be eligible to apply for Sky Q discounts only.


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Unicorns in Pajamas
by John Floyd
by John M. Floyd
Over the past few days I've been thinking about something Dixon Hill said in a recent column, about "flat" writing. He defined it as fiction that has no fizz or flavor.
I see that kind of thing a lot in my students' stories, and we as readers see it occasionally in published novels and short stories as well. On the surface there's nothing wrong--the writing is often technically correct and structurally sound--but there's no magic to it, nothing that would lift the words off the page and make them memorable. (By the way, the same thing can happen with nonfiction, and it's just as dangerous.)
Dix also called it perplexing, and hard to correct. He's right. It's even hard to recognize, when it occurs in our own writing, and if it goes undetected we usually wind up disappointed when those stories and books don't sell.
From the Reader's POV . . .
I should mention here a quick word about the opposite of flat writing.
Friends have told me they're sometimes not aware of excellent writing until after they've finished reading a story, because if it's good enough a reader can be drawn so deeply into the plotline he or she doesn't even think of anything else until afterward. Personally, I do find myself aware of extra "fizz and flavor" during the reading--maybe in a clever plot device, or a particularly elegant phrase, or a piece of information that I never before knew or understood. For me, though, noticing that kind of thing in flight isn't something that takes away at all from the enjoyment of reading.
I also like to find twists and reversals in a story. In the book Spunk & Bite by Arthur Plotnik (what a great author name, sort of like Francine Prose), he says, "Readers love surprise. They love it when a sentence heads one way and jerks another. They love the boing of a jack-in-the-box word. They love images that trot by like a unicorn in pajamas."
From the Writer's POV . . .
I learned long ago to search for dullness in my own work, and when I'm lucky enough to detect it (I wish it weren't there in the first place, but it usually is), I try to fix it. But that's easier said than done.
How do you correct lackluster writing? I know of only one way. I go back through the story, seeing it through the eyes of the reader, and attempt to make every page, every paragraph, even every sentence as strong as it can possibly be. Sometimes this is just basic rewriting: deleting modifiers, substituting action verbs for weak verbs, fine-tuning punctuation, adding exchanges of dialogue in place of description and exposition, changing passive voice to active. Sometimes it can be done via a metaphor or an analogy or onomatopoeia, or even humor--anything that might add sparkle to an otherwise routine and ordinary passage. I'm not saying this kind of search-and-repair operation is always successful; overcorrecting can make things worse instead of better. But I try. Always in the back of my mind is Elmore Leonard's advice: leave out the parts that people skip.
This whole process always surprises me a bit. Even when I think a manuscript is pretty much finished, I can usually trudge back through it with these things in mind and make it shine a little brighter. And when that happens it's a great feeling. It's the difference between functionality and beauty, between settling for par and making an eagle, between getting there and getting there in style. (Whether others will think my creation is beautiful is of course another matter, but I'm careful not to submit a story until I at least feel that way about it myself.)
I would appreciate hearing your views on this subject. Is flat writing something you worry about? If so, do you address it during the creative process or afterward? What are some of the steps you take to add "punch" to your own fiction?
A Sixth Sense
I'm convinced that the more one reads and writes, the more conscious one becomes, of bland and colorless writing. Quoting from Plotnik again: "I can see dead writing. I can see language that follows all the rules, but lacks the vigor and inventiveness ever to rise off the page."
He goes on to say, "I feel the anguish of dead writing, and sometimes as an editor I've applied a stitch here, a jolt there, so that it might stagger among the undead. But the only authentic way to enliven a piece of writing, give it corporeal clout, is to invigorate it at the outset." How true. These days it's not enough to hope an editor can do it for us.
To Fix a Flat
Anytime we discuss the quality and readability of fiction, I'm reminded of To Kill a Mockingbird. That book could so easily have been no more than a coming-of-age story, or a courtroom drama, or a mystery novel, or a lesson about race relations and justice and loyalty and knowing right from wrong. Instead it is all those things, combined. It has elements of both literary and genre fiction, and was written with a style that, after half a dozen readings, still keeps me hooked every step of the way. If it contains any dead spots, any dull, featureless prose at all, I've never noticed it.
But wait a minute. All this talk of flat writing has made me a little nervous. Did I mention that it can apply to nonfiction too?
Maybe it's time to sign off.
Posted by John Floyd at 00:01
Labels: flat writing, Floyd, unicorns
Elizabeth Zelvin 07 January, 2012 09:25
Wonderful post, John. And I love the picture of the discarded drafts. Did you take it yourself? And if so, how did you get your wife to let you eschew the wastebasket for so long? Or did you sacrifice a virgin (ream of paper, that is)? My most memorable recent example of discovering a writer's fizz and flavor (without losing engagement in the story) was on reading Michael Gruber's The Book of Air and Shadows. His prose, perfectly juxtaposing elegant locutions with zingy descents into the vernacular, had me chuckling and grinning with delight. I was only a few pages into it when I had to stop and say, "Listen to this!" and read my husband choice passages aloud. For me, that's the best sign that I've spotted a unicorn in pajamas. Gruber is kind of ignored by the crime fiction community, though The Good Son was nominated for a CWA Steel Dagger last year. If you don't know his work, either of those I've mentioned is a great place to start.
John Floyd 07 January, 2012 10:42
Thanks, Liz. No, the office in the picture isn't mine--but I do go through a lot of drafts.
I've heard similar praise for Gruber's novels. They are now on my list. And yes, I love to read something that causes me to stop now and then and tell my wife "Listen to this!" That's happened several times with Nelson DeMille books.
Robert Lopresti 07 January, 2012 10:58
it is funny. Just before you mentioned it I was thinking that my treatment for flat prose is the sentence by sentence search for dull words that can be replaced.
i am facing another problem: a story narrated by a dull kind of guy. The solution there, I think, is to surround him with the dialog of more vibrant people (see larry blocks Matt Scudder novels.)
as for nonfiction, I am reading a book by Bill Bryson, one of the greats. Here he is talking about an architect. "No one, other than perhaps the Luftwaffe, has done more to change the look of London than John Nash did over the next thirty years."
I agree that Bill Bryson is one of the greats. Years ago I bought his A Walk in the Woods for one of our boys before he hiked the Appalachian Trail, and I read it before we gave it to him. One of the best nonfiction writers around.
Good luck with the new story, Rob. Sounds as if you're taking the right approach.
Dale Andrews 07 January, 2012 11:32
Elizabeth beat me to the punch -- I was going to post about Michael Gruber. His prose is absolutely beautiful. There is a bit (don't want to spoil too much) in an early novel where he suckers the reader into three distinct dream sequences, each time convincing the reader that the character has awakened, only to reveal that they are still asleep. I must have re-read that sequence at least three times.
When I used to teach writing (well, legal writing) I found that students invariably thought that their writing was improved by the addition of adverbs. By contrast, Manfred Lee's advice on writing was to finish a story and then read through it striking every single adverb. Then go back through again and see if any of them deserved a reprieve.
Louis A. Willis 07 January, 2012 18:49
Okay, John, you made me think about how to make my comment interesting.
I don't always immediately recognize flat writing, or writing that has no zing. I sometimes feel as I'm reading that something is not quite right about a word, sentence, or paragraph. It feels as if something is missing. This is so even when I like a story because of the plot or characters. Sometimes, I feel as if I've hit a dead spot in the writing. Eventually, if I go back over the piece, I find the problem.
I write nonfiction. And I never feel a piece is ready to go out into the world. Again it is more a feeling rather than an analysis of the piece. This is true even after I think I have corrected the grammar, the punctuation, and punched up the dead sentences.
I remember getting some confusing advise while in college. A writing instructor told me to write with verbs. An instructor in American literature told me to use more adjectives.
Dale, I agree with Manfred Lee on the adverbs (fewer is better), and Louis, I think too many adjectives are almost as bad as too many adverbs. But it's hard to generalize, and--you're right--too much advice from too many quarters can be confusing.
As for feeling a piece is ready (or not) for submission, I share your pain, there. I guess all we can do is try hard as we can, and then let it out into the world to fend for itself.
You folks have certainly sold me, on Gruber. I'll be reading him shortly.
Leigh Lundin 07 January, 2012 23:41
Everything John (and everybody else) said! I've reached the conclusion all modifiers are potentially evil, so I chop adjectives as vigorously as adverbs.
In mid-December, I wrote about struggling with a dead story, and I'm not certain the battle's over. Changing the PoV helped tremendously.
Dixon Hill 08 January, 2012 16:38
I think Mr. Plotnik hit the nail on the head with: "But the only authentic way to enliven a piece of writing . . . is to invigorate it at the outset."
When writing, I sometimes feel as if I've grabbed onto the side of a speeding rail car; I tap into a story that just carries itself away with me. At times like these my fingers struggle to keep up with the story flow, but still strike the keyboard so quickly that Word gets jammed up and I repeatedly have to stop and wait for the cursor to recover. I call this "being in the groove," and nothing written while in the groove is ever flat. Because, as Plotnik might put it, it's "invigorate(d) … at the outset."
Knowing that this "groove" invigorates writing so much, I often feel caught when I sit to write but can't find a catalyst to make it pop alive. I keep a quote from J. Ireland on my wall for these times, which reads: "Inspiration is what unsuccessful writers sit and wait for while successful writers are sitting and writing." Still, I've long worried about the level of "life" present in words written without being in the groove.
Since reading this article, however, I think I'll balance that first quote by printing out another Plotnik quote to post on the wall beside it: "Readers love surprise. They love it when a sentence heads one way and jerks another. They love the boing of a jack-in-the-box word. They love images that trot by like a unicorn in pajamas."
Incidentally, I'm not surprised John picked this quote. Anyone who's ever read his short story Survival (which you can find in pdf format by clicking on the title) will quickly recognize that these are ideas John works in strict and magnificent accord with. He packs more twists into that 1,000-word story than I can get into 8,000 words -- even when I am in the groove!
Dix, many thanks for the kind words. And yes, those Plotnik quotes do hit the nail on the head, don't they?
I also like the Ireland quote that you mentioned. Wouldn't it be nice to think someone'll be quoting US one of these days . . .
By the way, I owe you thanks as well for inspiring me (via your recent column) to write this piece. Your insights on "flat writing" were excellent.
Hey, buddy, I may have saddled the horse . . . but you're the one who taught it tricks and rode it in the rodeo! Great Column!
Stranger than Fiction – Sailing Stories
Character Flaws
Guilty of Abandonment and Worried
"I'm like, 'Whaddaya mean, like, a verbal tic?'"
Fear, Print-Zombies, and Writing What You Know
A Few Reasons I Prefer Mysteries to Literature
Going Archival on You
Criminal Fashion
Red Rum
David Dean, Edgar Nominee
Deep Schettino
Tricky Diction
No, no, I really am.....
Interesting Books by Not So Big Names
A little film music, please...
Gone South
Little Worlds
Merchandising Murder
Novels and Short Stories: Can A Writer Do Both?
Guardian of Death's Stream of Consciousness
Profiled
New Year's Irresolution
Big Shot Writers
The Brazilian Confederacy
Funnel of Death
Making Books


text:
Q: how to enable gzip compression in angular cli for production build I would want to compress the bundle files that are created when building the angular project. I use ng build --environment=${environment} to build the application currently and the version of "@angular/compiler-cli": "^4.0.0" do not generate the .gz files to the dist folder. What is the simplest way to generate .gz bundle files (preferable without touching webpack.config.js file)?
PS: I knew the option for creating the .gz files was removed by the angular/cli team sometime back. But I need that desperately as my bundle files are huge.

A: My understanding is that the cli team removed the .gz compression option because most servers will compress files automatically before serving them to the browser (as long as the browser supports compressed responses - which most do).

A: I have found more simple solution to solve this issue.
Try this:
npm i --save-dev gzipper

and in your angular-cli.json just add this gzipper --verbose ./dist to your build command like:
ng build && gzipper --verbose ./dist

A: Angular-cli team has removed the support for generating compress files (.gz). Github discussion url.
We can use a gulp task for it.
Install following npm modules:
$npm install --save-dev gulp
$npm install --save-dev gulp-gzip

Create gulpfile.js
var gulp = require('gulp');
var gzip = require('gulp-gzip');

gulp.task('compress', function() {
  return gulp.src(['./dist/**/*.*'])
      .pipe(gzip())
      .pipe(gulp.dest('./dist'));
});

Since .gz support can be configure in web servers but server has to do the zipping it self and expense some cpu cycles for it. If we pre build it then it helps server to save some cpu cycles. :)
We can add it in package.json as script to run after each build of application.
"scripts": {
       ...
       "postbuild": "gulp compress"
       ...
   }

A: You could achieve this with a simple bash script before transferring them to the server, or even adding it to package.json as a command
 "scripts": {
   "build.prod": "ng build --environment=prod && tar -zcvf archive.tar.gz dist/prod/*",

Not sure what's your folder structure, but you can play around with tar -zcvf archive.tar.gz dist/prod/* in the terminal until you find paths that suite to your needs.
EDIT: Seems I misunderstood the question, if it is about bundle size when serving the stuff to the end user, you should take a look at AOT + Rollup to minimize your bundle sizes. And enable gzip compression on your webserver when serving files (probably most servers have it enabled already).

A: I think you need to enable gzip encoding on your api.
This way, the client will ask for compressed resources from the server.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
HomeNewsLocal NewsTranscript: Gov. Cuomo Calls on Federal Government to Reset the National COVID-19...
NewsLocal NewsNational News
Transcript: Gov. Cuomo Calls on Federal Government to Reset the National COVID-19 Response—"It Has to Start With the President Telling the American People the Truth"
By Jay Stevens
Economy and health care as an economic pandemic fear and coronavirus fears or virus Outbreak and Stock market selling as a stock financial recession concept with 3D illustration elements.
Governor Cuomo: "If you want to hit the reset button and you need to hit the reset button, and I believe we need to hit the reset button, then hit the reset button – but do it honestly. And it has to start with the President telling the American people the truth."
Cuomo: "The truth is it was a mistake to deny COVID It was a mistake to downplay COVID. It was a mistake to say it's just the flu. It was a mistake to say it's gone by Easter. It was a mistake to say it's going to magically disappear when it gets warm. It was a mistake to say I see the light at the end of the tunnel. It was a mistake to say yes we're going to do testing but I don't think we need it. Those were all mistakes."
Cuomo: "You don't think they know it was a mistake? Then you don't know the American people. They're smarter than you think. Trust the American people. And if you don't trust them and you don't trust their intelligence, and you don't trust their ability to handle the information, then you shouldn't ask to be their leader. I trust the people of New York. I told them the truth. I told them the facts. I never sugarcoated. I never shielded. I told him the truth so they knew what to do and they did it. That's what we call being New York tough and smart and united and disciplined and loving. They should try it in Washington."
Earlier today during a press briefing, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo voiced support for experts that are calling for a reset of the federal government's response to COVID-19. The Governor called on President Trump to tell the truth to the American people about the mistakes that the federal government has made in handling the virus.
VIDEO of the Governor's remarks is available on YouTube here and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format here.
AUDIO of today's remarks is available here.
A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:
You want to start over. You want to hit the reset button. I'll tell you how we hit the reset button in this country. We start this time with the truth. We do something different than was done in this country six months ago when this started. Start with the truth. Tell the American people the truth. And it starts on a reset with the President of the United States telling the truth which he did not do six months ago. And if you want to hit the reset button and you need to hit the reset button, and I believe we need to hit the reset button, then hit the reset button – but do it honestly. And it has to start with the President telling the American people the truth.
The truth is it was a mistake to deny COVID It was a mistake to downplay COVID. It was a mistake to say it's just the flu. It was a mistake to say it's gone by Easter. It was a mistake to say it's going to magically disappear when it gets warm. It was a mistake to say I see the light at the end of the tunnel. It was a mistake to say yes we're going to do testing but I don't think we need it. Those were all mistakes. Those were all untruths and they sent the wrong message to the American people because some people heard the President and believed him. And if you believed him, you wouldn't take COVID seriously. And if you didn't take COVID seriously then you wouldn't take the precautions that people were saying you should take, but that's what the President of the United States was saying six months ago.
The President of the United States said five months ago, "Reopen the economy. Liberate the states. Liberate the economy. These governors are slow walking reopening. They're just playing politics. That's what they're doing. There's no reason not to reopen the economy. Hurry up, hurry up, hurry up." Florida jumps, Texas jumps, Arizona jumps, "Yes, we're just going to reopen the economy." That was a mistake. It was an untruth. It denied the science. It denied what they're saying now. The virus will spread if you do that. Tell the truth. The truth is it was a mistake. When you saw what was going on in New York five months ago, you didn't heed the warning. It was a mistake when you saw the spike in New York. You thought somehow those people were different and your people were immune. Your people aren't immune. New Yorkers had no different immune system that made them more contagious to the virus. It was a mistake to deny the reality that happened in New York that was broadcast across the country.
That was a mistake. It was a mistake to see what we had to do here in New York – the testing, the hospital system, the contact tracing, the closed down, the phased reopening – and pay no attention to it. No attention to it. We're six months later – these states still don't have testing and contact tracing. How can it be? You had six months – here in New York we had two weeks. We were ambushed because the virus came from Europe and nobody told us. These other states had six months. How did you not set up a testing operation? How did you not expand the capacity of your hospital system? How did you not locate additional staff? How did you not locate additional PPE? You had six months. The reason they didn't – because they were listening to the President. "There is no issue. There is no problem." It was a mistake. Tell them the truth. The truth is CVOID is serious, it is deadly serious, and it's deadly serious for all of us. It's not deadly serious for Democrats, it's not deadly serious for blue states only, COVID kills Republicans and COVID affects red states.
It is deadly serious. It was not a political issue and it shouldn't have been politicized – this is not a political issue and it shouldn't have been politicized. This is public health – that's what this was and it should have never been turned into a political symbol, which is what this President did. Start with the truth, and the truth is an outbreak anywhere is an outbreak everywhere. That's what we should have learned in China, that's what we should have learned from MERS and SARS and Ebola and swine flu and H1N1. An outbreak anywhere is an outbreak everywhere. It's still true and the truth is none of us are safe until all of us are safe. That is the truth. If we don't tell the truth on the reset, COVID it will never end, and it will ricochet across the country. It will just bounce back and forth – you see how it's bouncing now it's ricocheting? It's Florida, it's Texas, it's the Midwest, it's California, oh it's back to New Jersey is on the rise, oh it's back to Massachusetts is on the rise.
It will continue, this ricocheting across the country, because that's what viruses do. It will never end. This was a colossal blunder, how covid was handled by this federal government – colossal blunder. Shame on all of you. Six months, lives lost. Hit the reset button, yes, but the way the medical experts are talking about it won't work. It won't work unless you hit the reset button and you start with the truth because if the American people are continued to be lied to the confusion, the chaos, and the denial will continue. Hit the reset button. It's called the truth. It's called the plain truth.
The American people are smart. If the President actually tells them the truth and says "I made a mistake" he's not going to be telling them anything they don't know. Every American knows he made a mistake. Every American knows this was the worst government blunder in modern history. Not since the Vietnam War have Americans sat in their living room to see the numbers on the TV screen every night saying what a mistake it was. During the Vietnam War, every night you saw the death toll. You saw the injury toll on TV. Every night they've seen this virus increasing all across the country and the death toll going up. You don't think they know it was a mistake? Then you don't know the American people. They're smarter than you think. Trust the American people. And if you don't trust them and you don't trust their intelligence, and you don't trust their ability to handle the information, then you shouldn't ask to be their leader. I trust the people of New York. I told them the truth. I told them the facts. I never sugarcoated. I never shielded. I told him the truth so they knew what to do and they did it. That's what we call being New York tough and smart and united and disciplined and loving. They should try it in Washington
Governor Andrew Cuomo on federal coronavirus response
Attorney General James Fights Trump Administration Effort to Block Immigrants From Seeking Asylum
NYT Reporter: Intel Officials Believe Russians Using Hunter Biden Allegations
Jay Stevenshttps://uticaphoenixnet.wpcomstaging.com
Mohawk Valley bands together to help eliminate heart disease and stroke
Johnson Park Center free food giveaway drive-through today, January 23


One other important thing was to try to think of things that are fairly inexpensive. You can easily have stocking stuffers that are over $50. While it can be fun to put together such a good stocking, it may not be the best if you need to put some of that money towards your child's gifts. It's easy to fill a stocking inexpensively but it takes a little more effort to be mindful about the stocking items. We also wanted to make sure that our children's stockings weren't full of candy or unhealthy snacks.
We had one big ticket item for each of our children's stockings which was a DVD movie. Then we filled our children's stocking we smaller things that were fairly inexpensive and to be things that they need.
Coming up with stocking stuffers that are suitable for small children or babies presented a challenge for us. We have a 5 month old baby that will be almost 6 months old at Christmas time. Unfortunately he is too little to enjoy most stocking stuffers that are suitable for older children. Therefore, we thought of things he needed or that he would be able to use in the near future.
Just try to be mindful about the stocking stuffers you choose so that they are things your child needs, will use, and will have a good purpose. In addition, things like arts and crafts for your creative child will provide ongoing entertainment for your child. Likewise travel games or small handheld games are a great option because you can use them on a future roadtrip.
Choose one larger item to help fill the stocking and then smaller inexpensive items to help filling up the remaining space.
Shop at your local dollar store for filler stocking stuffers and keep your cost down.
Get things your child needs or will use.
Avoid too many sugary sweets or junk food.
One thing our family always does is to wrap all of the stocking stuffers. It just creates more excitement around your stocking stuffers. We chose to wrap all stocking stuffers in red paper as we felt that this would be easy to find each year and would be distinguishable as Santa's Paper. In our home, everything that fills the stocking is from Santa.
So we just trying to be mindful about filler children's stockings these are items that they can actually use or that are going to have a good purpose. Avoiding things that will be forgot or become clutter within a month or two. Because we've constantly been trying to declutter or home and minimize our home as much as we possibly can so we're really trying to be mindful about things so that we aren't contributing to that problem anymore.
We'd love to hear about your ideas for stocking stuffers. Let us know in the comments below. Thank you for stopping by and visiting Sunup to Sundown! We'll be back soon with another recipe or update regarding our garden or our journey to becoming more self-reliant.


Today I baked my favorite shortbread cookies at home. These are rich and tender cookies. Here is a simple and easy recipe to follow.
Mix the salt with flour and strain separately and set aside. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
Beat the butter until smooth for about a minute. Add the sugar and beat until creamy. Mix in the vanilla essence. Gently stir in the flour mixture until just incorporated. Wrap the dough and chill it for atleast 15-20 minutes, so that the dough becomes firm to knead and press in the cookie presser.
On a lightly floured surface roll out the dough and press the dough in shapes using cookie cutter. Place on the flour dusted baking sheets. Bake for about 15 minutes or until cookies turn slightly brown on top. Cool on a wire rack and store in an air tight jar. This recipe makes about 15-20 shortbread cookies.
Enjoy your homemade shortbread cookies.
I guess they are all over.
Mmmm! I love shortbread cookies. This is an easy to follow recipe. Thanks for sharing it!
Looks Yumm Meera! Can I have one??